Category Archives: US News

Tony awards 2022: Company and The Lehman Trilogy lead big night for Brits

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Broadway transfers of West End shows were out in front at this year’s celebration of the best of New York theatre

Broadway transfers of West End adaptations of The Lehman Trilogy and Company have dominated this year’s Tony awards, which were seen as a return to relative normal after Covid-impacted ceremonies.

It was a big night for British talent in New York, with the Broadway transfer of The Lehman Trilogy winning best play, best director and best actor in a play. “This play was written as a hymn to the city of New York but, like the Lehman brothers themselves, our show started thousands of miles away,” said playwright Ben Power, who adapted the show from Italian novelist and playwright Stefano Massini. His version made its debut at London’s National Theatre in 2018.

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Global nuclear arsenal set to grow for first time in decades

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Thinktank also says nuclear powers must take immediate action to prevent rise amid heightened risk of weapons’ use

The global nuclear arsenal is expected to grow in the coming years for the first time since the cold war, and the risk of such weapons being used is the greatest in decades, a leading conflict and armaments thinktank says.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and western support for Kyiv has heightened tensions among the world’s nine nuclear-armed states, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) thinktank said on Monday in a new set of research.

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Capitol attack panel members urge DoJ to consider criminal charges for Trump

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‘I’d like to see DoJ investigate any credible allegation of criminal activity,’ says Adam Schiff as pressure builds on Merrick Garland

Members of the House committee investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat called on Sunday for the US justice department to consider a criminal indictment for the former president and warned that “the danger is still out there”.

Their comments on the eve of the second of the panel’s televised hearings into the January 6 2021 insurrection and deadly Capitol attack will add further pressure on attorney general Merrick Garland, who has angered some Democrats by so far taking no action despite growing evidence of Trump’s culpability.

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US senators reach bipartisan gun control deal after recent mass shootings

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Proposal does not ban assault weapons or raise age required to buy them to 21, but if enacted it would come after years of stalemate

Joe Biden has urged US lawmakers to get a deal on gun reforms to his desk quickly as a group of senators announced a limited bipartisan framework Sunday responding to last month’s mass shootings.

The proposed deal is a modest breakthrough offering measured gun curbs while bolstering efforts to improve school safety and mental health programs.

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AOC refuses to endorse Biden for 2024 as Democrats doubt his ability to win

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Congresswoman says she’s focused on trying to preserve Democrats’ congressional majority in November’s midterms

Left-wing congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday refused to endorse Joe Biden for another run at the White House, adding to growing anxiety in Democratic circles over the president’s ability to run in and win the 2024 election.

The powerful progressive New Yorker said she could not commit to supporting Biden during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, saying she was more focused on trying to preserve Democrats’ congressional majority in November’s midterms.

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Pilot shortages, fuel prices and Covid: US braces for travel chaos

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US sees rise in travel after ‘two years of pent-up demand’ – but issues continue to cloud the industry

On a recent Friday night Laura Waring needed to fly from Newark, New Jersey, to San Diego to help set up her healthcare information technology company’s conference, which was scheduled to start the next Monday.

But after her flight was repeatedly delayed and then canceled, Waring slept for about 45 minutes on a cot at Newark airport before she woke up cold and uncertain how she would get to California.

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‘I had imposter syndrome’: Taylor Swift talks becoming a director

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At a Tribeca film festival event, the singer discussed directing the short All Too Well as well as the difficult time she went through over control of her music

Lines of young fans stretch down Broadway. Selfies aplenty snapped in a crowded lobby. Wild cheers as anticipation built inside, followed by intermittent shrieks during an opening speech from Tribeca film festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal. A short film screening that morphed into a pop concert, complete with sing-along.

It’s safe to say this wasn’t your standard film festival event. But what else do you expect when the festival, now in its 20th year, decided to trot out the newly-minted Dr Taylor Swift to muse about film-making in honor of her music video-slash-short film aptly dubbed All Too Well: The Short Film? Released in November and directed by Swift herself, it fit like a glove into the festival as production partly took place in the actual Tribeca neighborhood in New York.

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Sarah Palin leads in special primary for Alaska’s House seat in comeback bid

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Run by former Republican vice-presidential candidate marks first bid since resigning as governor partway through her term in 2009

Former Alaska governor and Republican ex-vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin leads in early results from Saturday’s special primary for the state’s only US House seat in what could be a remarkable political re-emergence.

Voters in the far north-western state are whittling down the list of 48 candidates running for the position that was held for 49 years by the late US Representative Don Young.

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US temperatures hit record levels as south-west bakes in heatwave

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Phoenix reported 114F, Las Vegas soared to 109F and Denver hit 100F, while inland areas of California reached triple digits

A dangerous heat swept across the American south-west over the weekend as potentially deadly heat set temperatures soaring to record levels in numerous major US cities in the region.

Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver and California’s Death Valley all posted record temperatures on Saturday.

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Stars align for Cuban migrants as record numbers seek better life in US

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The journey to America, often via Nicaragua, has become more viable – and many are taking their chances at the border

One morning last spring, 22-year-old Ernesto Hernández set out from the outskirts of Havana on a rickety boat hoping to cross the Florida Straits. The plan was to leave behind a dilapidating communist-ruled island in which he saw no future, and sail into an American dream.

Nobody has heard from him, or the other six people onboard, since.

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Defence minister rubbishes Coalition claims on France compensation deal – as it happened

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Marles brushes off suggestions former Coalition government was close to signing compensation deal with France; nation records at least 24 Covid deaths. This blog is now closed

Interview with minister for NDIS and government services Bill Shorten now. First question is about energy policy.

Shorten says “the real issue about power, in my opinion is for 10 years we’ve had a decade of denial and delay.”

What we are suffering from this winter in the short term is floods of coal mines, outages of a plant which is more than 50 years old, but the real long-term problem is that we haven’t made a plan for transition to renewables, now the chickens have come home to roost.

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US gas prices rise to a record $5 a gallon but Biden hedges on Saudi Arabia visit

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Ukraine war and oil company price gouging among factors contributing to surge as president mulls Riyadh rapprochement

US gasoline prices, a key driver of the highest inflation seen in the US in 40 years, hit a record $5 a gallon on Saturday. There was little to suggest they would drop anytime soon but, also on Saturday, Joe Biden said he had “not yet” decided if he will travel to Saudi Arabia, a week after opening the door to a possible trip.

Any such visit would be aimed at bolstering relations with the country at a time when Biden is trying to find ways to lower gasoline prices.

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Biden faces anger over huge New Mexico wildfire sparked by federal burns

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President visits state beset by Hermits Peak Calif Canyon fire, result of two accidental fires that merged

Joe Biden landed in New Mexico on Saturday amid anger and frustration from wildfire survivors as he visited the state to review efforts to fight its biggest blaze in recorded history – which was started by federal officials.

Driven by drought and wind, the fire has destroyed hundreds of homes in mountains north-east of Santa Fe since two controlled burns by the US Forest Service went out of control in April.

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‘We are destroying our future’: New Yorkers join gun reform protests

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The march kicked off at Cadman Park Plaza, where a memorial honors Brooklynites who served in the second world war

Hundreds of people crossed the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan on Saturday, in support of March for Our Lives. It was one of dozens of rallies across the US to protest political inertia on gun control.

The New York march kicked off at Cadman Park Plaza, where a huge memorial honors Brooklynites who served in the second world war. Some marchers said they felt they were in a war, to protect themselves and their families from gun violence.

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‘Enough is enough’: thousands rally across US in gun control protests

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The March for Our Lives rallies come after mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York

Rallies for gun reform were held in Washington, New York, other US cities and around the world on Saturday, seeking to increase pressure on Congress to act following a spate of mass shootings.

In Washington, the son of an 86-year-old victim in the Buffalo supermarket shooting said: “Enough is enough. We will not go quietly into the night.”

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Cristiano Ronaldo: US judge dismisses $25m lawsuit over rape allegations

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A US district judge in Las Vegas said the victim’s lawyer acted in ‘bad faith’ for use of leaked and stolen confidential documents

A Nevada woman has lost her bid in a US court to force the Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo to pay millions of dollars more than $375,000 in hush money she received after claiming he raped her in Las Vegas in 2009.

A US district judge in Las Vegas, Jennifer Dorsey, kicked the case out of court on Friday to punish the woman’s attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, for “bad-faith conduct” and the use of leaked and stolen documents detailing discussions between Ronaldo and his lawyers.

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‘Caring and giving’: funeral for Uvalde victim held amid gun law protests

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Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, 10, was among the 19 children killed in the 24 May shooting at Robb elementary school

Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, a victim of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, was remembered at her funeral on Saturday as opinionated like her mother and athletic like her father.

The funeral took place on the same day as nationwide protests for meaningful gun reform. Her family asked mourners to wear bright colors to the funeral at First Baptist Church in Uvalde, because Lexi loved them.

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Climate crisis is ‘battering our economy’ and driving inflation, new book says

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Climatenomics lays out how ‘supply chain disruptions’ has become a euphemism for the effects of climate change

Forget Ukraine, coronavirus, corporate greed and “supply chain issues”, when it comes to inflation the climate crisis is the real, lasting, worry, according to a new book, and one that’s only likely to get worse.

Climatenomics, by former White House reporter and director of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) Bob Keefe, is a narrative account of how the climate crisis is fundamentally altering not just the US but global economies.

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‘It isn’t about politics – it’s about money’: will Hollywood take Johnny Depp back?

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The actor has been coy about returning to movies after his blockbuster defamation case – but PR moves are being made

Johnny Depp can probably thank his lawyers and PR for suddenly having a shot at a dramatic public image resurrection, but the question remains whether Hollywood will soon restore him to the big screen he used to dominate.

In the wake of his dramatic win in the defamation case against his ex-wife and fellow star Amber Heard – though Heard herself also won on one count against her former husband’s agent – speculation is now rife that Depp may go back to movies, despite his own claims that he has no interest in returning to the franchise blockbusters that supplied his fortune.

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The January 6 panel said Trump incited an ‘attempted coup’. Will it kill him or make him stronger?

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If Merrick Garland acts on the committee’s revelations and decides to prosecute, Trump will play the victim of a deep state conspiracy

Donald Trump achieved another first in US presidential history on Thursday night. He was, in front of millions of people, accused by a congressional panel of attempting to overthrow the US government.

“January 6th was the culmination of an attempted coup,” said Bennie Thompson, chair of the House of Representative’s select committee investigating the insurrection at the US Capitol. “President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack,” added his vice-chair, Liz Cheney.

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